Bear of the Day: AptarGroup (ATR)

Landing the Bear of the Day,  AptarGroup ATR is a stock to avoid in the Zacks Containers-Paper and Packaging Industry, which is currently in the bottom 7% of over 240 Zacks industries.

With the innovative packaging solutions company starting to exemplify some of the industry’s struggles, ATR shares are down more than +20% in 2025 to noticeably underperform the broader indexes.

Unfortunately, there could be more downside risk ahead, even as Aptar has consistently exceeded its quarterly expectations, but has faced various headwinds that have weighed on investor sentiment.

Recent Headwinds & ATR Technical Analysis

Notably, Aptar’s stock has been falling due to a mix of legal costs, inventory challenges, analyst downgrades, and weaker demand in certain healthcare markets. Regarding legal expenses, Aptar is facing intellectual property litigation, raising concerns about short-term profitability.

Furthermore, destocking in its Consumer Healthcare segment has pressured margins and created uncertainty about demand recovery, while challenges in the European cold/cough packaging market have added to investor worries about long-term growth as well.

The technical tape for Aptar stock is indicative of these fears, with ATR trading below its 50-day (green line) and 200-day (red line) simple moving averages, signaling short and long-term weakness and an overall bearish downtrend since July. 

Declining EPS Revisions

Correlating with recent headwinds and taking away from Aptar’s modest growth projections is that over the last 60 days, fiscal 2025 and FY26 EPS estimates have dipped 2% and 7%, respectively.

Aptar’s “F” Value Score  

More concerning to the declining EPS revisions is that at 21X forward earnings, Aptar’s stock is still trading at a bit of a stretch to its industry average of 14X, with some noteworthy peers being Avery Dennison AVY, Packaging Corporation of America PKG, and Sonoco SON.

In terms of price to forward sales, ATR is also at an elevated but not as noticeable P/S multiple of 2X compared to the industry average of 1X.

Bottom Line

On the surface, Aptar’s consistent operational performance and pleasant discounts to the benchmark S&P 500’s valuation metrics may be attractive. However, at over $100 a share, investors are understandably concerned about the premium they are paying for ATR relative to its peers, especially given the packaging industry’s challenges at the moment.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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